In the News

 

 

By Steven Elbow

 

 

Still in damage-control mode from what critics call veiled racial comments about poverty, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, is set to meet next week with the Congressional Black Caucus.

 

"The closed-door meeting has been in the works since last month, when Ryan stirred controversy by saying poverty is caused largely by a 'tailspin of culture,' particularly in inner cities, where 'generations of men [are] not even thinking about working or learning to value the culture of work,'" The Hill reported Tuesday.

 

The potential 2016 presidential candidate has taken a lot of heat in the wake of those comments, with U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee of California, a black caucus members, calling them a "thinly veiled racial attack."

 

Ryan also weathered criticism from constituents at a town hall meeting.

 

Controversy over the remarks has deflected attention from Ryan's focus on poverty, which some see as a way to win a wider support base in the wake of his failed VP bid in 2012. Ryan has repeatedly referred to the war on poverty as a failure and a "poverty trap." His recently released House budget proposal calls for extensive cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other programs aiding low-income people.

 

The meeting with the CBC is scheduled for Wednesday after Ryan, the House Budget chairman, is expected to hold a Budget Committee hearing on the subject of poverty.

 

The Hill story quotes fellow Wisconsin Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, a member of the Budget Committee and a black caucus member.

 

"His take on talking about poverty is to say we spend billions or trillions of dollars on poverty programs ... and poverty won," Moore, a Democrat, told The Hill.  "And we see that, essentially, as ... [him] playing with statistics or numbers, because in fact these poverty programs have helped raise people into the middle class by giving them job experience. And it has literally been a lifeline to millions of people, and not just people of color."